When I got back from my lunch deliveries I checked the nest box and found what looked like egg yolk in the pine shavings. I then found half of a soft shell (big sized) on the patio. I soon realised it must have been from Speckles as she was looking miserable and had streaks of white on her bottom feathers.
This is her fourth egg this year. I don’t know why it should be soft shelled as the girls aren’t having any extra treats. She hasn’t laid one like this before so I hope it’s just a blip. I always worry that there may be some egg shell left behind but she perked up as the day went on so hopefully the other half just got eaten. I will add some crushed, baked, egg shells to their mash tomorrow.
After lunch, I did the usual switching of the flocks, to the other side of the run. I tried to encourage Dandelion and Cinnamon to go to the patio for the food. They didn’t quite get that far, but by moving the mash from the run to the bottom step and then to the top step, I managed to get them as far as the top step (wooden block). It’s a bit of progress.
At three o’clock in the afternoon I decided to mix them early instead of waiting until before bedtime. Freckles had been going up and down the wire and I thought she wanted to get to the new girls. I opened up all the gates and Freckles ran at speed to the patio, ran straight to the nest box, up the ramp and settled in. I felt awful that while I thought she wanted to get to the other girls all she really wanted was to get to the nest box.
Within about ten minutes she had laid her egg. Because she has been laying every other day and had laid yesterday, I hadn’t expected her to lay today. I had closed the new girl’s coop to stop the bigger girls throwing the shavings out. That’s two days running that she has laid. I had thought that seramas didn’t lay that well but she is proving to be a good little layer. We now have two little eggs each for Sunday breakfast.
At least that took Freckles out of the equation to start with. Rusty was still eating mash on top of the little coop roof so didn’t seem to notice the gates were open.
I put the girls together
They don’t seem to have noticed
The bigger girls all go to the top of the wooden table/shelter
The bigger girls seemed more interested in checking out the new girl’s dishes, in case they had something different to them, which of course they didn’t and getting back to the wooden table which they had been deprived of for a couple of hours. Rusty finally came out of the new girl’s section and joined the bigger girls.
Rusty joins them but is inside the shelter
Rusty inside the shelter
The new girls are here
Freckles is in here
We decided to move the new girls towards the rest of the flock so that they could interact rather than staying totally separate. We felt it would be best to get it over and done with.
Emerald didn’t take much notice
The bigger girls and Freckles were busy at the food and water
It was only when Rusty suddenly saw that Apricot was near by that it kicked off. Rusty went for her but the difference this time was that Apricot ran rather than fight. They bowled around the run at such speed that no photos were possible. Rusty managed to pull a few feathers from Apricot’s back. Apricot ran to the ladder and up to the high perch.
Apricot can now get to the high perch
Clever girl
When Freckles came out of the nest box she went after Cinnamon but Cinnamon went into the submissive posture and then escaped. The bigger girls landed a few token pecks but nothing too nasty. I decided this was enough for today and got the girls back to their areas.
I felt this had gone much better though. I think it helped doing it earlier with no corn involved as treats cause more bullying. I think that once Rusty has established that she is above Apricot and equally Apricot accepts that she is below Rusty, things will settle down.
The bigger girls have no need to worry about their position in the pecking order and therefore are not so aggressive. I think that the first time Rusty and Apricot got together the problem was that neither wanted to back down which made for a brutal encounter.
I am now much more optimistic that they will settle soon. Once I open up more escape routes it will make it easier for the new girls to get out of the way. One thing that is certain is that they have speed on their side. I am feeling much happier with the progress today.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Glad to hear that things went much better this time, like you said, you just have to have lots of patience, and time.
You are right, time and patience. I think they are establishing the pecking order now and there is no doubt at all that it’s Rusty who is top serama.
Gosh thank you for all this. It certainly helps me to understand my flock a bit better!
That’s an added bonus if it helps other people. I am still learning along the way.
Encouraging progress, Carol – you’re certainly doing it right, with the combination of characters you have! Delighted that Freckles is laying so well. Scaley laid her first egg of the season yesterday -tell-tale bit of poop, but very pale in colour, so different from last year. She’s probably 5, so the pigment gland is no longer working as it did but, fortunatley, the shell was solid.
Who would have thought that my sweet little Rusty would become such a monster. I should have known really, from past experience, it’s the unexpected ones that are often the worse. Well done Scaley.